Today is the first day of spring! The world is budding and blooming, bunnies frolic and robins sing their springtime song. Winter’s grip has loosened and we’re ready for a warmer embrace. We step outside and– Continue reading “A Springtime Supper”→

I love these fluffy national holidays. Every day is a holiday. Isn’t that cool? EVERY DAY.

Some are more fun than others, obviously, and some are way more fluffy. My favorites center around desserts and other junk food. I especially like them when, like today, they present a challenge as well as an opportunity to stuff my face.

It’s National Chocolate Soufflé Day.

(Get it? A fluffy holiday? Oh, come on.)

People think that soufflés are these ticking time bombs, the most difficult dessert to make, impossible for the average cook to get right. To those people, I say:

Last night, I was in the mood for garlic. I mean, REALLY in the mood for garlic. I love the stuff. So I decided to make some garlic bread.

Trouble was, I had no suitable bread. I’d have to bake some. And since I was already going to have to make the dough, rise it, bake it, and so on, I thought: why not bake the garlic right in?

So. I whipped up a large batch of French bread dough by kneading together 2 cups bread flour, four cups all-purpose flour, two packets (4.5 tsp) of active dry yeast, one tablespoon kosher salt, one tablespoon dried herbs, one teaspoon of sugar and two and a half cups of warm water (the water, sugar and yeast hung out in a measuring cup to get foamy before being added to the dry stuff). Let that rise for about an hour till it doubled.

We are entering party season, people. Maybe we’re already in it–it’s football season, after all, and there were plenty of Halloween parties just a few days ago, and then there will be Friendsgivings and, of course, Thanksgiving itself. Maybe you’re throwing these parties, maybe attending them. Maybe you’ve been asked to bring something–an appetizer? You could just pick up a bag of Doritos. People like those. But if you want to take it another step further, here are three sure-to-please recipes, none of them requiring any culinary skill or know-how. Read on but beware: you might drool. That’s okay. It’s a normal, human response.

These are all my twists on some party classics. For example, the classic “queso” recipe (the one on the back of the Velveeta box) calls for two ingredients. Mine calls for four: